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Mumbai Housing Hits 15-Year Affordability High, Yet Top Earners Must Save 109 Years

Reserve Bank rate cuts have trimmed mortgage burdens to their lowest in 15 years despite Mumbai’s home prices generating a century-long savings hurdle

Ahmedabad, Pune, and Kolkata, now ranked as the top three most affordable residential markets among eight Indian cities, according to Knight Frank India’s Affordability Index. (Photo for representational purposes only)
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Overview

  • Mumbai’s affordability index improved from 50% to 48% in H1 2025 following a cumulative 100 basis point repo rate cut, marking its best level since 2010
  • An average 1,184 sq ft home in Mumbai now costs over Rs 3.5 crore, forcing the top 5% of urban families to save 30% of their income for 109 years to afford it
  • Knight Frank’s H1 2025 data ranks Ahmedabad (18%), Pune (22%) and Kolkata (23%) as the most affordable among eight major cities while NCR’s ratio worsened to 28%
  • Chandigarh remains the most accessible state capital with a 15-year savings horizon for an average home, in contrast to more than 30 years in ten other capitals
  • Experts point to land scarcity, regulatory hurdles and speculative luxury demand from wealthy Indians and NRIs as key factors sustaining record-high prices and stress the need for targeted urban housing policy